


World's a Stage

by TW Lewis (gardendoor)



Category: Gargoyles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1998-01-04
Updated: 1998-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 22:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardendoor/pseuds/TW%20Lewis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexander Xanatos takes on his father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	World's a Stage

**Author's Note:**

> Usual disclaimers apply, none of the characters are mine. Pity.

_“And one man in his life may play many parts” -- Shakespeare_

* * *

“My father did that.” It was not a question.

Owen Burnett looked up from the papers on the desk, examining the sixteen year old boy before him. The boy was referring to the stone hand that rested between them. “A long time ago. We have much to do.” He leaned over the papers again.

“I _hate_ him.” said Sandy with all the bitterness of a teenager. He shoved the papers off the little airplane seat desk. “And I hate this. How can you work for him?”

“Alexander.” Owen spoke. The single word was more than enough to snap the boy back to controlled attention. A mask of calm slid over the boy’s features, and he knelt to pick up the mess. The boy had his father’s face, though the features were often marred (or so his father thought) by worry, anger and frustration. He wore his bright red hair in a bowl cut. His body was perfectly conditioned to paragon form; even if Alexander Xanatos had been naturally lazy, neither Fox, David or Owen would have allowed the child to grow up that way.

Sandy gathered up the papers and sat down again. Owen never cleaned up after his charge’s outbursts. Sandy hated treating his teacher and only friend as a servant. “We were still working on the RyTech company, weren’t we?” He sighed. “All right.”

“I still think you should reconsider the deal,” Owen commented, “Your father won’t approve it.”

Sandy flipped through the pages again. “I won’t suggest a hostile takeover. And I can’t fight him. I’m not strong enough yet.”

Owen closed his eyes a moment, remembering the future he had shown Goliath.

Sandy noticed his tutor’s sudden silence. “Does it hurt?”

“Does what hurt?” Owen asked. He frowned. “Alexander, we have work to do before the plane lands.”

“Does it?”

“It tingles. I don’t understand why this is suddenly important. Now about the RyTech deal?” Owen straightened his glasses.

Sandy tightened his jaw. “He’s going to take that company no matter what I do. And he doesn’t care _what_ I think, as long as I’m sneaky and twisted like him.” He wished he had an obnoxious tee shirt he could wear to this meeting, just to annoy his father. There were two problems with that. He knew the importance of appearances too well by now, and his parents probably already owned whatever tee shirt he was thinking of.

Ever since he was fourteen, Sandy had taken his summer vacations away from home, on the airship base of Cyberbiotics, which his maternal grandfather had left him at age nine, when the honorable old man passed away. There he worked with Preston Vogul to amass wealth as morally as possible, funding charitable projects and eco-safe companies. The growth rate was up to nearly a tenth of his father’s.

Although his parents had shaped his cunning and his education, Sandy was always closer to his two grandfathers. If he had not been needed as an heir, Sandy would have sold off Cyberbiotics and become a fisherman like his paternal grandfather. He loved the water, the honesty of a simple life, and the pure assurance that no matter how cunning, his father could bug neither the ship nor the water. He spent every spare second with his grandfather.

But the summers always ended. So here was Sandy, flying back from an overseas business deal, with homework already before him. His father wanted his opinion on business. Supposedly. The one good part of all this was that his father had chosen Owen to be the messenger.

“You’re not going to improve matters with that attitude.”

Alexander snapped back to attention, put on his best “Owen-face” and flipped to page seven of the printouts. “I knew it! Owen, where was that account book?” He rifled though the papers until he found it. He flipped through it for the right entry, studied it carefully. Then he pulled out his powerbook and began typing furiously, stopping to correct every spelling mistake. Just as the plane landed, he plugged the powerbook into the on-board printer and pulled out a copy. Then he walked to the front of the plane. “Thank you, Charlie," he said to the pilot. "Tell Preston I’ll be in touch by tonight.”

“You’re welcome. Goodbye, Mr. Xanatos.”

Sandy braced himself, straightened his turtleneck, and stepped off the plane. “Hi Mom. Hi Dad.”

David and Fox Xanatos moved forward to hug their son tightly. “I trust you had a pleasant flight?” David asked.

“I had Owen for company.” He looked back to see Owen getting out behind him.

“Shall we go?” David asked, indicating the limousine. There were four seats in the back, all facing each other. Owen took the driver’s seat, and the three Xanatos’ took the rear. “Now what have you decided about my little problem?”

Sandy handed him the papers. “No takeover. No merger. Offer them European distribution though you. Start with Germany and Italy. Then expand to Jordan and Russia, all of which are tremendously viable markets for the products. Russian rifles can be semi-securely shipped, under the guise of the product. They’re not your style, so they won’t be traced if used. Manpower from Jordan through the Khalida. High tech weapons through Germany, but keep it small scale and discreet. You can use RyTech as a blind, and they can go on with their jobs.”

David studied the plans. “It’s elegant. I like it.” He leaned back. “What do you do about the conflict of interest? What’s good for Xanatos Enterprises is by nature bad for Cyberbiotics as long as they aren’t merged.”

Sandy smiled falsely at his father. “There’s no conflict so long as we work in different fields. You’re not taking anything I want through this deal.”

“I thought you’d like to see this,” Fox interrupted, handing Sandy a copy of The Advocate. She smiled at him. “Oh, the gargoyles all say hello. They can’t wait to see you.”

Sandy glanced at the cover. His face was there, a surveillance-type shot. They hadn’t asked to interview him. The headline asked: _Wealthy scion Alexander Xanatos. A velvet glove around Xanatos Enterprises?_ The article inside was more of the same. _Sixteen year old Xanatos has a lot to be proud of. He is state champion for his school in both martial arts and wrestling. He is the most eligible bachelor currently on the market. And he quit the debate team last year to take a more involved position in his father’s company._

Since then, Xanatos Enterprises has seemingly become a kinder, gentler company, with fewer accusations of corporate warfare and gunboat tactics. However, if anything, the profit margin has continued to rise, suggesting the threat is still there, only further underground than ever. Despite hopes in the popular press that Alexander is an improvement over his father, it seems he may be-- Alexander stopped reading. “They completely ignore everything I’ve done with Cyberbiotics. But they’re right.”

“The paranoid press sometimes are, if only because of the law of averages.” David leaned back. “Does it bother you?”

“Nothing they say changes anything.”

“How is Jonah?” asked David.

Sandy forced back shock. He had thought Jonah was his secret. He had so few of them. “He’s well. He’s got army duty now. He’s going career-military, but I suppose you know that. What’s for supper?”

Later that night, Fox and David sat in the main office, watching their son flip them the bird on the security monitor before getting undressed and going to bed. Fox closed her eyes at the familiar ritual. “David?”

“He has every reason to hate me,” David commented. “I’m unscrupulous, I use him, I spy on him and his acquaintances, and his only friend is sworn to a lifetime of service from me. And the only reason he has a friend at all is because he knows Owen could never hurt or spy on him, also by sworn oath. He’s still a virgin because any girl he meets might be one of my operatives. He should have been my father’s son. It would make everything much simpler.” He clenched a fist in frustration. “I can’t even tell him I love him. He’d think it was a trap. He knows me too well for me to get through to him.” He flipped on the video he always kept in one VCR, to remind him. Alexander’s thirteen year old, tear-stained face suddenly appeared.

“David, don’t.” Fox pleaded softly. “Come to bed.”

“I’m sorry, all right?” young Alexander screamed hysterically at Goliath. “I’m sorry I’m not good enough to turn him, make him a better person. I’m just not good enough. No!” he shouted, yanking away as a protesting Goliath tried to comfort him, “He’ll never love me because I’m not like him. He can’t trust me to work for his interests. And I’m not good enough to make him be like you and Grandpa. Don’t you see? I’m a failure! Now leave me alone!!” He suddenly turned his rage on the security monitor, flipping it the bird for the first time. “Why won’t any of you stop using me?!”

Fox marched over to the screen and switched it off. “That’s enough, David.”

“I should have let Pop raise him. He would have been so sick of a poor fisherman’s life, he would have turned into exactly what I wanted.”

“You don’t know that.” Fox soothed. She picked up the old argument. “We can have another baby. It’s not too late. We can let Alexander go to your father and be happy.”

David shook his head. “He’d think we were replacing him, and he’d be right. He wouldn’t go do what makes him happy; he’d build up Cyberbiotics and sabotage my company, because someone has to keep me in line.”

“I know. But a mother can dream.” She stroked his hair. “We have to get an early start tomorrow.”

“I know. You go to bed, I’ll be there in a minute.” He walked down the hall to the elevator, took it to the correct floor. He stood outside his son’s room, which was sealed by a plain-looking wooden door laced with spells to keep it locked. David would have to disintegrate the door to talk to his son.

He felt someone in the corridor behind him, and turned to see Owen. “Can I help you, Mr. Xanatos?”

David rested his fists on the door. “That depends, Owen. Can you make him love me? Trust me?”

Owen was silent for a long time. “As Owen Burnett, I would have to rely on words. And you know I have already tried that.”

“And as Puck?” David asked.

“I don’t think you want to hear what I have to say, Mr. Xanatos.”

“Owen, please. I need him.”

“As Puck, I can’t do anything that might harm or endanger him. Goodnight, Mr. Xanatos.” He walked off down the hallway.

*****

Sandy looked at the last calculus problem and rubbed his eyes. “All right, I’m done.” He shook his head. “I’m in college and I still have to do my homework before I can play. I can’t wait until I’m eighteen, so I can move out of this house. What’s on the agenda for tonight, Puck?”

His mischievous mentor spun around the room a few times, as usual treating gravity as a suggestion rather than a rule. “Oh, you’ll like this one. Not as much fun for me, though.” And with that, they vanished.

The room faded and was replaced by the salty cold pressure of sea water in a midnight ocean. Sandy could have kissed his teacher. _*Bay Harbor. Puck, you’re a saint.*_

 _:No, I’m a fey.:_ Puck dove and spun in the water, relishing his temporary respite from the role of straight man.

Sandy didn’t mind. He was free of cameras, security personnel, manipulations, even clothes. His parents didn’t know where he was. His enchanted lungs took in the salty fluid like a balm. _*Now what?*_

 _:The life that burns in this one is bonded to my own, so will and wits will come when life and power are grown.:_

 _*This one what?*_ Alex asked as the spell flared and aborted before he could see the results. Puck did that a lot these days.

 _:Think, boy. What do you want here as an ally?:_ Puck asked, swooping around to nestle by Sandy’s ear. Using magical night vision, they watched lobsters, fish and kelp go about their business.

Sandy thought a moment, then chose his target. _*The life that burns in this one is bonded to my own, so will and wits will come when life and power are grown.*_ He felt the life drain out of him, too fast, too much...

But Puck was there at the critical moment, keeping his heart beating, pressing strength and life like a rope holding him back from the chasm he balanced on. The spell bunched, weakened, but held. Then it began multiplying.

 _:Clever. Not very bright, but clever. Daddy would be so proud.:_

 _*Dad won’t know. And I couldn’t have a better ally against a man who lives on an island like Manhattan.*_

 _:You’re no fun anymore. This vendetta is so_ boring _. You’re too serious, even if your mind is deliciously twisted.:_

 _*It will multiply, breed. A sentient ocean, all the organic soup of it obeying when I need. And he can’t detect it, or buy it, or stop it.*_ He felt it in his bones. _*I’m drained.*_ He broke the surface of the water and felt sea-roughened hands pulling him up into a rowboat. Puck flew up and landed beside him. “I could have made it to shore myself, you know,” Sandy commented, covering his nakedness with Puck’s offered cloak, wrapping it around his waist.

“I don’t doubt. You grudge me this?” The old man asked.

Sandy grinned. “It’s good to see you again, Grandpa.”

“Good to see you too, Sandy. How are David and that woman?”

Sandy buried his head in his hands. “One year and seven months until I turn eighteen. You know what I want. But I have to groom myself as his heir, and build up my own business, so that when he dies I can take Xanatos Enterprises and start healing the damage he’s done.” He looked up. “How did you know I was here?”

“Puck woke me. What did you do to worry him, Sandy?” He scruffed the boy’s hair. “I still have leftovers from dinner back at the house. You can sleep here and do your blinking teleport whatever-you-call-it in the morning for school.” The old man’s accent was soothing. There was always something relieving about his grandfather’s voice, the lack of subtlety, the lack of sophistication. “So, how did you do on that physics exam, eh?”

“I got an A-minus.” Next to him, Puck reluctantly changed from his Fey to his human form, drying off in the process. Sandy paused as he saw the stone hand again, permanent reminder that his best friend was sworn to his enemy. “Why do you work for him? How can you...?” He ran out of words.

He could see Owen fighting to articulate opinions that were rightly Puck’s. “He’s...fun. Interesting. He amuses me.”

“I don’t amuse you.”

“You’re...wonderfully twisted, even more than he is. But you need to...lighten up a little.” The words sounded alien in Owen’s mouth. “You enjoy yourself so rarely, and never with anything interesting. And I haven’t heard you laugh since you were twelve.”

“He’s right, Sandy.” his grandfather agreed. “You shouldn’t have such a burden. You’re his son, not his father. That’s my job.”

Owen laid a careful hand on Sandy’s shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about amusing me. But it would make things more entertaining for both of us.” It wasn’t in character for either Puck or Owen to tell Sandy how he really felt; but by now Sandy knew the fey was quite taken with him.

“Now about that physics test.” his grandfather reminded him. “That sounds like nice work.”

“Thanks, Grandpa. That means a lot coming from you.”

"So why an A-minus?"

They reached the shore and walked up the porch steps to the front door of the house. “I can’t stay overnight,” said Sandy, “Much as I want to. I can’t let Dad suspect that I come here as often as I do.”

His grandfather shrugged. “So have some supper and we’ll talk. You can worry about David later.” He turned to Owen. “Would you like some?”

*****

Sandy and Owen teleported back to the tower a couple of hours after midnight. His father was waiting in his room. The door was blasted to pieces, and parts of the surrounding wall were gone. “Alexander.”

“What are you doing in here?” Sandy demanded.

“Fox is in the medlab with severe skin burns. Even Sevarius thinks he might not be able to repair the damage, and she nearly died from the burns in her throat and lungs.” He shoved his son against the wall. “What the hell did you do to your mother?”

Sandy shoved his father’s hands from his shoulders. “She did it to herself. There’s a chemical compound in the air filtering system on the airship that attacks double X chromosomes only. I knew it was a matter of time before she tried something like this. By now the chemical is gone, and the next security measure is in place.” David struck his son in fury, but Sandy intercepted the hand before it hit. “What was I supposed to do, Dad? Let her win? Let her destroy Fortress Two? What would you have done?” He tried to hit his father, but David blocked the fists. “This is what you taught me!!!”

“That’s enough.” David turned on Owen. “You knew about this.”

“It was a conflict of interest.”

“A conflict of interest,” David repeated. He grabbed Sandy’s arm. “You’re coming to see her.” Sandy let himself be dragged downstairs to the medlab. Owen followed quietly.

Fox lay on the operating table, whimpering almost inaudibly. Her skin was blistered, seared. Sevarius worked around her, mixing chemicals and checking monitors. Sandy cleared his throat. “Dr. Sevarius?” Sandy leaned over and quickly sketched out a list of chemicals. “The antidote.”

Sevarius took it without comment, quickly assembling the ingredients. “How does it need to be--”

“Injection into the artery. Plus boosters for two days. Don’t give her a sedative, it’ll interfere with the healing process.” He turned to his father. “If you’re waiting for an apology, you’re out of luck. I’ve made it clear to both of you that I want my privacy. You knew Fortress Two would be protected. I’m not going to apologize for being smarter than my parents.”

“Get out of my house.” David ordered.

Sandy leaned over and kissed his mother carefully, tenderly, trying his best not to hurt her further. Then he turned and walked out.

David clenched his fists. “The antidote?”

“It’s working as fast as the poison,” said Sevarius. “She probably won’t even scar.”

David turned around. “You’re fired, Owen.”

“Sir, if you’ll let me explain...”

“You had a conflict of interests, and you made a choice. You broke your promise to me. There’s nothing to explain.”

“I think there is, sir.” With a swirl of light and color, he was Puck, and they were no longer in the lab.

When David’s vision cleared, he found himself in what appeared to be cyberspace, watching himself vaporize Alexander. Then they were alone. “What is this?”

“A possible future. There’s more to it than this, and it’s not completely you, but you get the gist. I showed this to Goliath before the kid was born. Not telling you about the airship poison was one step in preventing this. For both of you.”

David looked around the vast emptiness of cyberspace. “How did it come to this?”

“You were yourself. He was himself. He fought you, with the gargoyles as his allies. He won. You died. Too bad,” Puck added. “Lexington used your personality, which you had downloaded into a computer, as a front to gain world power. And then you killed Alexander.” Puck shrugged. “Be glad you didn’t get the full tour. It’s not pretty.”

“How does killing Fox stop this?” David demanded.

“Oh, I knew he wouldn’t kill her. It’s a wakeup call. For both of you. This is your chance to see what you’ve turned him into, and get any last minute alterations done.”

“I’ve tried. You know that. He rejects every offer I give him.”

Puck laughed at that. “Really, Xanatos. Who are you trying to fool? I’m the king of bad bargains. He’s got morals, unfortunately. Very boring. He can’t leave you in power when he knows what you’ll do with it, and he’s the only man on earth smart enough and good enough to have a chance against you. The question is, how badly do you want him?”

Xanatos sighed heavily. “I can’t change what I am. I’m ambitious. I like power, the more of it, the better. I could never really give it up. It would kill me from the inside.”

“Remember, this wouldn’t be the first time you’ve risked your empire for him.” Puck urged. “C’mon, kiss and make up.”

*****

Magic yanked Sandy from his bed on board Fortress Two and took him to a stark, unknown room. His father and Owen sat on the far side of a plain steel table. “What’s going on?”

“I’ve made a business decision.” David watched his son’s body tense in anger. “I’m giving up all my illegal goods and businesses, and firing all employees I use for illegal practices.”

“You’re what?” Sandy sat down, dumbfounded.

“I’m going to sell them off, keeping the profit, and invest them in more legal enterprises. It’s not as fun, but...” David reached a hand over the table. “I promise you, Alexander, you don’t have to be afraid of me anymore.”

Sandy scrubbed furiously at his eyes for a moment. “Why? This is all so fast--”

“I know. And it’s going to take us all some time to get used to.” David caught Sandy’s hands between his own, held them tightly. “You can go catch fish with Pop, if you want, or stay and help me. Just as long as the business goes to you when I die.”

“But why?”

“Because I love you. You’re my son. I don’t want to lose you.”

Sandy couldn’t stop crying. “I love you too, Dad.” He reached over the table and hugged his father desperately tight.

When the storm inside him had settled somewhat, Sandy asked, “How’s Mom?”

“She’s alive. She’s awake and healing and very angry. More with herself than with you.”

Alexander pulled back a moment. “Dad, are you sure about this?”

David laughed. “Not at all. But I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.” He chuckled. “Goliath will be having a party over this.”

“We don’t have to tell him just yet,” Sandy agreed, afraid to test this new bond before he was sure of it. “Let’s sleep on it first.”

End.


End file.
